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The Theory of Evolution A Materialistic Liability
The information we have considered throughout this book has shown us that the theory of evolution has no scientific basis, and that, on the contrary, evolutionist claims conflict with scientific facts. In other words, the force that keeps evolution alive is not science. Evolution may be maintained by some "scientists", but behind it there is another influence at work. This other influence is materialist philosophy. Materialist philosophy is one of the oldest beliefs in the world, and assumes the existence of matter as its basic principle. According to this view, matter has always existed, and everything that exists consists of matter. This makes belief in a Creator impossible, of course, because if matter has always existed, and if everything consists of matter, then there can be no suprematerial Creator who created it. Materialism has therefore long been hostile to religious beliefs of every kind that have faith in God. So the question becomes one of whether the materialist point of view is correct. One method of testing whether a philosophy is true or false is to investigate the claims it makes about science by using scientific methods. For instance, a philosopher in the 10th century could have claimed that there was a divine tree on the surface of the moon and that all living things actually grew on the branches of this huge tree like fruit, and then fell off onto the earth. Some people might have found this philosophy attractive and believed in it. But in the 20th century, at a time when man has managed to walk on the moon, it is no longer possible to seriously hold such a belief. Whether such a tree exists there or not can be determined by scientific methods, that is, by observation and experiment. We can therefore investigate by means of scientific methods the materialist claim: that matter has existed for all eternity and that this matter can organise itself without a supramaterial Creator and cause life to begin. When we do this, we see that materialism has already collapsed, because the idea that matter has existed since beginning of time has been overthrown by the Big Bang theory which shows that the universe was created from nothingness. The claim that matter organised itself and created life is the claim that we call "the theory of evolution" -which this book has been examining-and which has been shown to have collapsed. However, if someone is determined to believe in materialism and puts his devotion to materialist philosophy before everything else, then he will act differently. If he is a materialist first and a scientist second, he will not abandon materialism when he sees that evolution is disproved by science. On the contrary, he will attempt to uphold and defend materialism by trying to support evolution, no matter what. This is exactly the predicament that evolutionists defending the theory of evolution find themselves in today. Interestingly enough, they also confess this fact from time to time. A well-known geneticist and outspoken evolutionist, Richard C. Lewontin from Harvard University, confesses that he is "a materialist first and a scientist second" in these words: It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, so we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.179 The term "a priori" that Lewontin uses here is quite important. This philosophical term refers to a presupposition not based on any experimental knowledge. A thought is "a priori" when you consider it to be correct and accept it as so even if there is no information available to confirm it. As the evolutionist Lewontin frankly states, materialism is an "a priori" commitment for evolutionists, who then try to adapt science to this preconception. Since materialism definitely necessitates denying the existence of a Creator, they embrace the only alternative they have in hand, which is the theory of evolution. It does not matter to such scientists that evolution has been belied by scientific facts, because they have accepted it "a priori" as true. This prejudiced behaviour leads evolutionists to a belief that "unconscious matter composed itself", which is contrary not only to science, but also to reason. Professor of chemistry from New York University and a DNA expert Robert Shapiro, as we have quoted before, explains this belief of evolutionists and the materialist dogma lying at its base as follows: Another evolutionary principle is therefore needed to take us across the gap from mixtures of simple natural chemicals to the first effective replicator. This principle has not yet been described in detail or demonstrated, but it is anticipated, and given names such as chemical evolution and self-organization of matter. The existence of the principle is taken for granted in the philosophy of dialectical materialism, as applied to the origin of life by Alexander Oparin.180 Evolutionist propaganda, which we constantly come across in the Western media and in well-known and "esteemed" science magazines, is the outcome of this ideological necessity. Since evolution is considered to be indispensable, it has been turned into a sacred cow by the circles that set the standards of science. Some scientists find themselves in a position where they are forced to defend this far-fetched theory, or at least avoid uttering any word against it, in order to maintain their reputations. Academics in the Western countries have to have articles published in certain scientific journals to attain and hold onto their professorships. All of the journals dealing with biology are under the control of evolutionists, and they do not allow any anti-evolutionist article to appear in them. Biologists, therefore, have to conduct their research under the domination of this theory. They, too, are part of the established order, which regards evolution as an ideological necessity, which is why they blindly defend all the "impossible coincidences" we have been examining in this book. Materialist Confessions The German biologist Hoimar von Ditfurth, a prominent evolutionist, is a good example of this bigoted materialist understanding. After Ditfurth cites an example of the extremely complex composition of life, this is what he says concerning the question of whether it could have emerged by chance or not: Is such a harmony that emerged only out of coincidences possible in reality? This is the basic question of the whole of biological evolution. Answering this question as "Yes, it is possible" is something like verifying faith in the modern science of nature. Critically speaking, we can say that somebody who accepts the modern science of nature has no other alternative than to say "yes", because he aims to explain natural phenomena by means that are understandable and tries to derive them from the laws of nature without reverting to supernatural interference. However, at this point, explaining everything by means of the laws of nature, that is, by coincidences, is a sign that he has nowhere else to turn. Because what else could he do other than believe in coincidences?181
Yes, as Ditfurth states, the materialist scientific approach adopts as its basic principle explaining life by denying "supernatural interference", i.e. creation. Once this principle is adopted, even the most impossible scenarios are easily accepted. It is possible to find examples of this dogmatic mentality in almost all evolutionist literature. Professor Ali Demirsoy, the well-known advocate of evolutionary theory in Turkey, is just one of many. As we have already pointed out, according to Demirsoy: the probability of the coincidental formation of cythochrome-C, an essential protein for life, is "as unlikely as the possibility of a monkey writing the history of humanity on a typewriter without making any mistakes".182 There is no doubt that to accept such a possibility is actually to reject the basic principles of reason and common sense. Even one single correctly formed letter written on a page makes it certain that it was written by a person. When one sees a book of world history, it becomes even more certain that the book has been written by an author. No logical person would agree that the letters in such a huge book could have been put together "by chance". However, it is very interesting to see that the "evolutionist scientist" Professor Ali Demirsoy accepts this sort of irrational proposition: In essence, the probability of the formation of a cytochrome-C sequence is as likely as zero. That is, if life requires a certain sequence, it can be said that this has a probability likely to be realised once in the whole universe. Otherwise some metaphysical powers beyond our definition must have acted in its formation. To accept the latter is not appropriate for the scientific goal. We thus have to look into the first hypothesis.183 Demirsoy writes that he prefers the impossible, in order "not to have to accept supernatural forces"-in other words, the existence of a Creator. It is clear that this approach has no relation whatsoever with science. Not surprisingly, when Demirsoy cites another subject-the origins of the mitochondria in the cell-he openly accepts coincidence as an explanation, even though it is "quite contrary to scientific thought". The heart of the problem is how the mitochondria have acquired this feature, because attaining this feature by chance even by one individual, requires extreme probabilities that are incomprehensible... The enzymes providing respiration and functioning as a catalyst in each step in a different form make up the core of the mechanism. A cell has to contain this enzyme sequence completely, otherwise it is meaningless. Here, despite being contrary to biological thought, in order to avoid a more dogmatic explanation or speculation, we have to accept, though reluctantly, that all the respiration enzymes completely existed in the cell before the cell first came in contact with oxygen.184
The conclusion to be drawn from such pronouncements is that evolution is not a theory arrived at through scientific investigation. On the contrary, the form and substance of this theory were dictated by the requirements of materialistic philosophy. It then turned into a belief or dogma in spite of concrete scientific facts. Again, we can clearly see from evolutionist literature that all of this effort has a "purpose"-and that purpose precludes any belief that all living things were not created no matter what the price. Evolutionists define this purpose as "scientific". However, what they refer to is not science but materialist philosophy. Materialism absolutely rejects the existence of anything "beyond" matter (or of anything supernatural). Science itself is not obliged to accept such a dogma. Science means exploring nature and deriving conclusions from one's findings. If these findings lead to the conclusion that nature is created, science has to accept it. That is the duty of a true scientist; not defending impossible scenarios by clinging to the outdated materialist dogmas of the 19th century. Materialists, False Religion and True Religion So far, we have examined how the circles devoted to materialist philosophy derange science, how they deceive people for the sake of the evolutionist fables that they blindly believe, and how they veil realities. That said, we also have to admit that these materialist circles perform a significant "service", though unintentionally. They carry out this "service", by which they seek to justify their own untrue and atheist thoughts, by exposing all the senselessness and inconsistencies of the traditionalist and bigoted thought that poses in the name of Islam. The offences of the materialist-atheist circle have helped reveal the false religion which has no relation whatsoever with the Qur'an or Islam; which depends on hearsay, superstition, and idle talk; and which has no consistent argument to put forth. Thus, all the inconsistencies, discrepancies, and illogic of the false religion defended by those insincere circles that wrongly act in the name of Islam without relying on valid evidence are exposed. Thus materialists help many people realise the gloom of the bigoted and traditional mentality and encourage them to seek the essence and real source of religion by referring to and adhering to the Qur'an. Although unintentionally, they obey God's command and serve His religion. Furthermore, they disclose all the simplicity of the mentality that presents a false religion invented in the name of God and proffered as Islam to all and they help weaken the sway of this bigoted system that threatens the bulk of society. Thus willy-nilly and in accordance with their fate, they become the means whereby the decree of God about His upholding His true religion by causing the antagonists of religion counteract against each other is made true. God's law is stated in the Qur'an as follows; And did not God check one set of people by means of another, the earth would indeed be full of mischief. (Surat al-Baqara, 251) At this point, we think it necessary to leave an open door for some advocates of the evolutionist materialist thought. These people might once have set out on an honest quest, yet have been driven away from the true religion under the influence of the idle talk produced in the name of Islam, falsehoods fabricated in the name of the Prophet, and hearsay stories to which they have been subject since their childhood and thus never have had the chance to discover the truth themselves. They might have learned religion from books by opponents of religion who try to identify Islam with falsehoods and fallacies that are not present in the Qur'an, and with the traditionalism and bigotry. The essence and origin of Islam are quite different and, moreover, completely incompatible with all that has been taught to them. For this reason, we suggest they get a Qur'an as soon as possible and read God's book with an open heart and a conscientious and unprejudiced view and learn the original religion from its true source. If they need assistance, they can refer to the books written by the author of this book, Harun Yahya, on the basic concepts in the Qur'an. Next Media: Fertile Ground for Evolution
179179 Richard Lewontin, "The
Demon-Haunted World", The New York Review of Books,
January 9, 1997, p. 28.. |
